Assistants/transcribers for home care nurses

Biker53 · Apr 13, 2016

It depends upon whether the assistant is same gender as the patient so as to not make for discomfort with the patient if intimate care is involved. There are as well HIPAA considerations which speaks to the extent to which the assistant is trained/certified/licensed.

While a male patient may be accepting of intimate care by an RN, it cannot be assumed that he is also OK with a female asst. also being present. The RN is directly providing care. The Asst is just watching. A very big difference in the patient's eyes.

Dun1203 · Apr 13, 2016

Great point but just as any other discipline the patient can let the agency know their preference.

allnurses Guide · Apr 13, 2016

I think it's a great idea if you can get the agency to pay for it. Being overwhelmed with paperwork seems to vary depending on how much work is assigned to the nurse and how far apart the residences are, and not all visits involve an in-depth assessment at every visit, so agencies may balk at sending an assistant on every visit.

Many home health nurses have safety concerns in some neighborhoods and having a partner along would help with that as well as provide a second person to witness any number of situations in which it boils down to one person's word against another.

Biker53 · Apr 13, 2016

Great point but just as any other discipline the patient can let the agency know their preference.

I agree, assuming the agency lets the patients know beforehand that the nurses would be bringing an assistant with them. And by that I mean making it clear rather than being buried in the fine print somewhere. It otherwise could make for an awkward situation if the patient was expecting just the nurse and the nurse shows up with the assistant.